A series of commentaries by Mary T. Hoffman about: humans and animals and the cruelty inflicted upon them;
prayer and grace, and the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives; and the problems that plague our lives in this
corrupted world.

Thank you for your article about cheap grace. I take comfort in knowing
that there are other kindred spirits.

I have this sense of loneliness that is inexplicable. I feel something is
desperately wrong with my life and the church. I suspect that I am suffering
from cheap grace. Cheap grace that was heaped upon me and which I readily
accepted.

I have no one to discuss this with since it has been my experience that
such discussions usually end with myself being branded a heretic. How dare I
suggest that works are somehow needed for one's salvation. Even my closest
friend thinks that I need to be rescued from my own thoughts, that I have
made something that was simple very complicated.

I pray often that I would love God with all my heart. My preacher sees
this as a works-based-salvation and has said so. He thinks that I have a
serious misunderstanding of salvation. He stress that "Salvation is by faith
alone!"

Thanks again. Love,

Dan Speer

PS: I too think it is a shame that as keepers of God's creation (we were
given dominion over the animals), we take the liberty to serve them up for
our sandwiches.

Mary's and Frank's Reply - 8 May 2002

Dear Dan:

Thank you very much for your letter.

The real heresy is from those who live by cheap grace. It's as though
they want others to indulge in their sins as if that would convince God that
it was acceptable because so many people are living that way. It's
only a way to try to justify their own evil ways.

Until we learn to live by God's intent we will never have peace, and
neither will the rest of creation. These people glorify the concession
rather than the intent. You might like to read a sermon that addresses
this problem.
http://www.all-creatures.org/sermons98/s17mar2002.html

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